Inside the Gallery Suite

Curating a new overnight experience in Natchez

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Natchez, with its treasury of historic buildings and legacy of hospitality, has long held a reputation as the unofficial “bed and breakfast capital of the South.” And now, somewhere between the opulent charm of Antebellum cottages and the lore-heavy intrigue of Under-the-Hill’s Mark Twain Guesthouse, the gallerist/artist couple Stacy and Andrés Conde have inserted their own fine arts-focused overnight experience into the heart of the downtown district.

“There are so many really spectacular bed and breakfasts here in Natchez that have capitalized on those themes the city is known for,” said Stacy Conde, who moved with Andrés from Miami to Natchez during the pandemic. “And those places have done it, frankly, far better than I ever could, because they are of this place. They know it inside and out. I was not looking to compete with that. What I wanted was something completely different.”

[Read this: The Jewel of Downtown - At the Watermark Hotel, a series of panels by Angela Gregory highlight a history of industry and artistry]

When you enter the Condes’ Natchez Gallery Suite above Bank Alley, your eyes will be instantly drawn toward the light, the window—centuries-old panes draped delicately in opulent silk curtains, two antique wooden chairs and an elegant café table inviting you to ponder, to journal, to enjoy a cup of tea. To the left of this tableau are three artworks by Denver artist Kevin Sloan, displayed in oval, gold frames against a column: each a hazy depiction of the sun rising, or setting, over a body of water—four vividly depicted moths in the foreground.

Catercorner to Sloan’s soft dreamscapes, above a gold velvet loveseat, is the arresting work by Uruguayan/Chilean artist Pablo Santibaez Servat, titled “Circus III.” The piece is confrontational, a shock to the senses with loud color, brash nudity, caricatural illustrations, and a dead lion. It’s an unexpected move, placing these two drastically different styles of art so close to each other. But somehow, it works.

“I don’t love the word ‘eclectic,’ because it’s so over-used,” said Stacy, who designed the spaces and curated the art for the Natchez Gallery Suites. “But the aesthetic is very much that. A lot of people think everything has to match exactly—like, if this is classical, everything has to be classical. But I think it’s much more interesting to mix and match, to curate your space in a way that’s meaningful. Little vignettes everywhere, that’s what it’s all about to me. Different vibes, different feelings, different stories in each little area. And you’re journeying through.”

Conde comes by her design experience honestly; she spent ten years working as the assistant to Barbara Hulanicki, founder of the London fashion company, Biba. (In 2012, Hulanicki was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contributions to the fashion industry.) Starting at age seventeen, Conde worked for Hulanicki in her interior design business in Miami Beach. “We did full gut rehabs of Art Deco hotels, and nightclubs, and music videos,” she recalled. “Everything you could imagine.”

Hulanicki was the first person Conde called to see the Natchez Gallery Suites design. “I put her on FaceTime, walked her through,” she said. “She told me, ‘Well done, Stacy!’ when she’d seen everything.”

The Suites had been part of the Condes’ plans for their Natchez property since they purchased it in 2020, following their pandemic move—with their art gallery in tow—from Miami Beach. Since then, Conde Contemporary has occupied the circa-1898 Greek Revival building that once housed the Bank of Mississippi. Formerly a center of Southern commerce, the gothic, airy interior now plays host to a rotation of magical realist, surrealist, and other representational works by artists from across the globe.

The historic building came with a collection of former office spaces upstairs. According to Stacy, it had always been part of the plan to make use of those rooms—to create overnight accommodations for her visiting artists and collectors, and use it as a short-term rental in between guests.

The floor plan mostly went unchanged, but the renovation was extensive; the rooms’ electricity and plumbing had to be completely re-installed. “And then, you know, the hunt began,” said Conde, referring to the task of finding the perfect flooring, finishes, paints, and furnishings. They installed marble subway tiles in the bathrooms, a cast iron tub in one and a marble shower in the other. They kept the two-hundred-year-old wooden floorboards, and when they pulled off the “ancient” wallpaper, they found shiplap behind it. “People were telling me I needed to put drywall, and I was like, ‘Why?’”

They kept the shiplap—Conde’s husband, Andrés, painting it a distressed copper color, “as though water had just been dripping down these walls forever,” Conde described. “I love working with him on projects, because our minds are so completely different—it’s very bizarre, but we somehow always come to the same conclusion. Taking two paths to get to the same place.”

In the Bank Alley Suite, they had to open up a hole between two former offices to connect the living space to the bedroom—a gap they filled with the room’s centerpiece: nine-foot-tall green doors from the 1850s, which Conde found in New Orleans. “But then I made them super contemporary with brass snake door handles,” she said.

Other details include refinished antiques from Natchez and beyond, a French Empire Montgolfier beaded chandelier, and a selection of essential oils and bath salts for guests’ enjoyment.

And then, there’s the art.

“I’m an art dealer,” said Conde. “I’m a gallery owner. But more than anything, I’m really a curator. And that’s how I approached these spaces. As they really developed as I started moving different elements in, it just became apparent what they needed.”

Bringing works from her host of gallery artists into the suites was an obvious move for Conde, an opportunity to show her guests—many of them collectors—how the art looked in situ. “You get to live with the art,” she said.

The job required a different sort of curation than what Conde does in her gallery; when selecting art for interiors, instead of gallery walls, you’re curating more than visuals; you’re curating tone, emotion, and environment.

“I think people need to trust their instincts when it comes to art, and not listen to what the expert trends are, per se. You should really buy what resonates with you.” —Stacy Conde

“Art can enhance a space in both a sort of subliminal and obvious way. You walk into a space and the environment is completely changed by the piece, by whatever emotion it evokes,” she explained. “I think people need to trust their instincts when it comes to art, and not listen to what the expert trends are, per se. You should really buy what resonates with you.”

For the suites, Conde was looking for artworks that were intriguing and romantic, moody and sexy. “And so the works I went with are kind of doubling down on that,” she said.

In April, the walls of the Gallery suites included Giovanni Gellona’s magical surrealism, a sculpture by Ignacio Gana, Noah Saterstrom’s ancestral dreamscapes from his immersive narrative collection of paintings titled What Became of Dr. Smith, and Andrés’ own work, among many others. But the selection will be ever-changing as guests fall in love with them—identifying some emotion in the pieces they then want to bring into their own spaces.

“If you see something in it, then you’re getting something emotionally beautiful—a sense of calm, or excitement, or whatever it is you’re after—out of that piece,” said Conde. “And you’ll be able to return to it for that feeling, again and again.” 

thegallerysuites.com.